WrestleMania XXX
WrestleMania XXX (also written as WrestleMania 30) was the thirtieth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place on April 6, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the first WWE event simultaneously broadcast live on pay-per-view television and WWE's new streaming media service, the WWE Network. Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card and one pre-show match was streamed on the WWE Network. Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H in the first match on the main show to qualify for the triple threat main event match, where he defeated Batista and defending champion Randy Orton to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The event was also notable for The Undertaker's 21–0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania coming to an end with a loss to Brock Lesnar. The WWE Divas Championship was the other title defended on the main show, its only defense at WrestleMania, while the WWE Tag Team Championship was defended on the pre-show. WWE claimed $10.9 million in ticket revenue for WrestleMania XXX and estimated a $142.2 million economic impact on New Orleans. The event has received highly positive reviews. SLAM! Wrestling rated the show a 4.5 out of 5, while the Pro Wrestling Torch rated the event 8.75 out of 10 and The Times-Picayune described it as "spectacular". Production Background WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship event, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. On February 18, 2013, WWE announced that WrestleMania XXX would be held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in the city of New Orleans on April 6, 2014. The event is alternatively known as WrestleMania 30. On August 12, travel packages for WrestleMania XXX went on sale, which included tickets to WrestleMania, hotel room accommodation, and other activities including WrestleMania Axxess, the 2014 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, and the next Raw; the cheapest package cost $795 per person. On November 16, individual tickets went on sale through Ticketmaster, with prices ranging from $25 to $850. While ordering WrestleMania through pay-per-view television costs between $55 – $70, WWE has also made WrestleMania XXX available live through its new WWE Network online streaming service, which costs $9.99 per month with a six-month contract; WrestleMania was the first event available simultaneously on pay-per-view and on the WWE Network. Storylines The card consisted of eight matches, including one on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Daniel Bryan's eight-month road to WrestleMania began at SummerSlam in August 2013, when he started feuding with Triple H and Randy Orton. Since June, Bryan had been praised as one of the top performers in WWE by critics and veterans of the professional wrestling industry, as his rise in status led him to a title shot at SummerSlam. At the event, Bryan defeated John Cena to win his first WWE Championship with Triple H as the special guest referee. After the match, Triple H turned heel by attacking Bryan, which directly led to Orton using his Money in the Bank title opportunity for an immediate title shot. Orton pinned a downed Bryan to capture the WWE Championship. After SummerSlam, Triple H claimed that it was a "business decision" to sabotage Bryan because Bryan did not fit the type of wrestler that the company was looking for as its champion; therefore, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (later known as the Authority) instead endorsed Orton as the "face of the WWE". Over the next few months, Bryan was constantly sabotaged in his attempts to gain and hold on to the WWE Championship. Bryan defeated Orton to regain the WWE Championship at Night of Champions, but due to referee Scott Armstrong making a fast count, Triple H stripped Bryan of the title the next night on Raw. At Battleground, a match between Bryan and Orton for the vacant title ended in a no contest when Big Show (who had been manipulated by the Authority in the weeks prior) attacked both men. Bryan once again challenged Orton for the vacant championship at Hell in a Cell; Triple H interfered in the match and was attacked by Bryan, resulting in special guest referee Shawn Michaels attacking Bryan, which led to Orton capturing the WWE Championship again. At TLC, WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated World Heavyweight Champion John Cena to unify the two titles into the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In January 2014, Batista returned to WWE after having left in May 2010, and promptly won the 2014 Royal Rumble match for a slot in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXX. Batista's win and Daniel Bryan's lack of participation in the Royal Rumble match was heavily booed by the live crowd at the event. At Elimination Chamber, Randy Orton successfully defended his championship in the Elimination Chamber match to set up Orton versus Batista (who still received a negative fan reaction at Elimination Chamber when he defeated Alberto Del Rio) for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXX. Daniel Bryan also participated in the Elimination Chamber match, but was the last wrestler eliminated due to interference by Director of Operations Kane, who was affiliated with the Authority. Frustrated over being constantly cost the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by the Authority, Bryan challenged Triple H to a match at WrestleMania XXX. When Triple H refused Bryan's challenge, Bryan brought a large group of fans on the March 10 episode of Raw to "occupy" the ring and refused to leave. An irate Triple H agreed to Bryan's demand for a WrestleMania match with the stipulation that if Bryan won, he would be inserted into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at the event. On the March 17 episode of Raw, Triple H voiced his frustrations over Orton and Batista, then changed the stipulation of his own match, guaranteeing that the winner between him and Bryan would be added to the WWE World Heavyweight championship match, thus assuring a triple threat match for the title. On the February 24 episode of Raw, Brock Lesnar and his manager Paul Heyman voiced their complaints about Lesnar not being in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania. Instead, the Authority offered Lesnar a contract to face anyone else at WrestleMania. They were interrupted by a returning Undertaker, who confronted Lesnar. While Lesnar signed the contract for a match at WrestleMania with The Undertaker as his opponent, The Undertaker accepted Lesnar's challenge by stabbing Lesnar with a pen and chokeslamming him through a table. This set up a match where Lesnar would attempt to break the Undertaker's 21–0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania. At the Royal Rumble event, The Wyatt Family, led by Bray Wyatt, cost John Cena his match against Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. At the Elimination Chamber event, the Wyatt Family attacked Cena during his Elimination Chamber match for the same championship, which directly led to Cena's elimination from the match. Wyatt was motivated by a desire to end "this era of lies", beginning with Cena, because he wanted to expose to the world that Cena being an upholder of all that is moral and good and right was merely a hollow illusion. Proving that Cena was a fraud would ruin his legacy, but Wyatt wanted to take it one step further by turning Cena into a monster. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Cena issued Wyatt a challenge for a match at WrestleMania, which Wyatt accepted. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * WrestleMania Category:WrestleMania PPV Category:Pay-Per-Views